Birthday Extravaganza
by CSM
Summary: It's Emma's first birthday with her family and Henry wants it to be perfect, so he enlist the help of his entire family.


**Title**: Birthday Extravaganza

**Author:** CSM

**Disclaimer:** I Don't own Once Upon a Time

**Summary**: It's Emma's first birthday with her family and Henry wants it to be perfect, so he enlist the help of his entire family.

**AN :** As you all know trying to fit fics into OUAT timeline is near impossible, so lets just say Neal is around, Tamara doesn't exist and that's all you really need to know. I haven't written OUAT fics in ages, but I recently lost one of my idols and writing seems to be the only thing that helps, and writing fics for my last show hurts too much, especially when I want to just write something short and cute.

* * *

**Birthday Extravaganza**

* * *

She's sitting at the small dinner table currently constructing her lesson plan for the next week, when Henry slides into the seat next to her, his elbows resting on the table as he gazes up at her with a forlorn expression. She smiles at him in amusement.

"I told you, you should have gone to the mines with David." She points out. Its Saturday afternoon and she and Henry have been cooped up inside the house for the majority of the day, David went to the mines to check on the dwarfs and Emma is at the station. Snow can tell that the confinement is getting to her grandson as there is so much Saturday morning cartoons the boy can watch before he gets fed up.

"It's not that." Henry says with a despondent tone, he sighs again before he speaks, "Next week is my mom's birthday."

Snow smiles at the thought, "I know, I'm baking her favourite cake, and maybe inviting some people over, but I know she won't want to make a big deal out of it though. But it's her first birthday with us, so you know tough for her."

Henry giggles in response to that, exactly as Snow was hoping for, "Are you worried about what to get her for her birthday? If it helps I'm _still_ trying to figure out what to get her."

"I want it to be special." Henry says, his despondent tone pulling at Snow's heartstrings, "I don't want to just get her another jacket or something lame."

"Henry, I'm pretty sure no matter what you get your mother, she'll love it." Snow says truthfully, "It's the thought that counts."

"Yea, but I'm her kid, I'm suppose to know what to get her." Henry says sadly, he places his chin on his forearm sighing yet again.

"What if you make her something?" Snow suggests, "She'd like that more than something you bought."

"Yea, but what…." Henry trails off and Snow watches in amusement as his eyes light up and he jumps off of the chair and tackles her into a hug, "Grandma you're brilliant! I know _exactly_ what to get her!"

With that said he runs off to the couch on the other side of the small apartment, jumping on it as he grabs Emma's laptop. Snow watches him with fascination as he starts typing furiously, his bottom lip jutting out as he is in deep concentration. The little gesture reminding Snow so much of her daughter when she's in a similar state. Snow shakes her head with a smile, curious as to what her grandson is up to, but she also knows that when he's ready he'll tell her about it.

* * *

A few days later Snow is currently making breakfast for the family, when she feels a small poke in her side, she looks to her left to see Henry shuffling closer to her, looking at the bathroom, where Emma is currently showering.

"Grandma." Henry whispers despite the fact that he is standing right next to Snow, "I need you your help."

Snow grins, looking over Henry's head at her husband, who stops reading his newspaper to listen to conversation in amusement, "Sure with what?"

"It's for Operation Anaconda." Henry whispers loudly.

"Cobra, Viper and now Anaconda. Is there a reason why all these operations of yours deal with snakes?" David asks in amusement as he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Gramps, snakes are cool." Henry says easily, earning a grin from Snow as he turns back to his grandmother, "But that's not the point, I need your help."

"Do I get to know what this Operation anaconda is about?" Snow asks in amusement as she flips the last of the pancakes out of the frying pan and onto a plate.

"Mom's gift, Grandma. Duh." Henry says as though its that obvious, he's about to continue but the sound of the bathroom door opening makes him grab a piece of bacon shoving it in his mouth, keeping him occupied as Emma walks into the kitchen drying her hair with a towel.

She pauses at the table and looks at her family curiously, "What did I miss?"

"Grandma made chocolate chip pancakes for me." Henry says with his mouth full, pointed at the last two pancakes which surely enough has small bits of chocolate chips.

Emma frowns at Snow who grins at her sheepishly, "Isn't it a bit too early for something so sweet?"

"Mom, its not like I'm eating chocolate for breakfast." Henry says as he bathes his chocolate pancakes with syrup, Emma grabbing the bottle from him before his pancakes are drenched in syrup.

"No need to go into a sugar coma," Emma points out putting the syrup bottle on the opposite table, narrowing her eyes at David who is grinning at her in amusement.

Emma smiles slightly at his look, but heads up stairs to her and Henry's room to finish getting ready for the day. Once she disappears up the stairs Henry grins sliding onto the stool next to David and grabbing the syrup bottle again, "That was close, she can't know about her gift."

David grabs the bottle from Henry, before he could pour more, at Henry's look of protest he laughs, "You heard your mom, easy on the sugar intake, she doesn't need to know that you added _extra_ chocolate chips to the pancake batter."

Snow grins sheepishly at the pointed look her husband sends her, nothing is wrong with her spoiling her grandchild from time to time. She looks at Henry, who's currently munching on his pancakes, "So do I get to know about this secret operation?"

Henry looks at the stairs, and grins when he hairs the blow dryer turn on, "I'm making her a baby book, well not a_baby _book, but like I made a time line from when I was a baby till last year, but I wanted to add pics of the two of us and all four of us from the welcome back party at Granny's when you guys back from the Enchanted Forest. I'm also going to ask my Dad if he has any pictures."

When he finishes Snow is biting her lip trying not to cry, Henry looks at her in alarm, "Is it bad?

"Oh no honey, its great." Snow promises, "I love it. Your Mom's gonna love it. What do you need my help with?"

"I want the book look like my storybook and not like something I made. It needs to look fancy. Oh and I need pictures of me and Mom, or me with you and Gramps."

Snow nods glancing up at Henry and Emma's room, stilling hearing the blow dryer going, "I'm sure my camera has some. About the book, you do know I didn't write that right?"

"You didn't?" Henry asks in confused, "But you gave it to me, I thought your cursed self did it."

"Nope, I have no clue where it came from. I just found it in my classroom." Snow says.

Henry frowns in thought, and Snow wonders briefly if that will now be a new mystery for Henry to solve, but instead Henry points at one of the picture frames sitting at the end of the table, "Can I get that one? I know I'm not in it but Mom would like a picture of her with your and Gramps."

Snow looks the picture that was taken a few weeks ago and smiles, "I'll make you a copy. Do you need any supplies to decorate the book? Glue or…."

She trails off when Emma comes running down the stairs, Henry's backpack in her hand, on seeing Henry sitting at the table she sighs in relief, "I thought you forgot this. What are you doing? You're late for school!"

Both her parents and Henry look at her in shock, when none of them move, Emma frowns, "What?"

Henry giggles loudly as David hides a smile behind his cup of coffee, Snow smiles at Emma calmly, "It's Sunday."

"No." Emma says in surprise, she then looks across at the daily calendar and groans, "Seriously? And none of you thought to tell me?"

"Honey, you were hardly rushing around." Snow points out in amusement as she holds out a plate of pancakes for Emma, "You just went to dry your hair."

Emma huffs, but takes the plate anyway and plops onto the stool next to her father, "At least you didn't run out of the house still wearing your bedroom slippers, like last time?"

At David's words both Snow and Henry giggle at Emma's expense, Emma in turn glares at her father, "Is it make fun of Emma day?"

"Here, have some coffee." Snow offers, putting a large steaming cup in front of Emma. She points a finger at her husband and grandson who are still holing back their laughter, both of them no doubt picturing the frazzled Emma from a few weeks ago skidding out of the apartment in her slippers, "Leave her alone. I wondered why you were up so early, especially since we hadn't even started breakfast yet."

"Old age creeping up on me." Emma grumbles behind her coffee mug, when David opens his mouth she holds up her hand, her forehead wrinkled, "Don't even say it. If I think about the fact that I might be old than either of you, my head will hurt."

"Relax, miss crank pants, you are not older than either your father or I." Snow promises, patting Emma on the wrist.

Henry giggles at the nickname stuffing his pancake into his mouth when his mother sends him a look. Emma then mock glares at her mother, "I'm letting that nickname slide, only because it's comforting to know that I am not older than either of you."

Snow just laughs in response, "I made you. I can call you whatever I want."

Emma nose wrinkles in disgust at that comment, "Could you _not_? I'm having breakfast here."

Both David and Snow exchange a laugh, even more so when Henry looks at them in confusion.

* * *

"Hey buddy! Where's the fire?" Neal asks with a laugh as Henry zooms into his room and jumps onto the bed.

"I need your help." Henry says as he digs through his bag, finally pulling out a large book.

"I think your grandparents may be the best one to help you with your book." Neal says as he takes a seat on the bed, but frowns when he sees the big book has Henry's name etched across it in neat cursive, clearly not the book he originally thought, "What's this?"

"Mom's birthday gift." Henry says matter-of-factly, as he tosses his bag aside and crawls on the bed to sit next to his father, "I was thinking of making one for you but I ran out of stuff."

Neal nods and gasps when he sees the first picture of a six month old Henry smiling up at the camera with only a few teeth in his mouth, "Oh."

"Wait!" Henry says suddenly clapping the book shut, "You can't see it."

"What why?" Neal asks in confused as Henry tugs the book protectively in his lap.

"I want you and Mom to go through it together." Henry suddenly frowns in though, " I should have made it a surprise for both of you. But I wanted to know if you had any pictures of you and I from the last few weeks. Or even one of all three of us?"

"Buddy, its okay. It's for your mom's birthday anyway. "Neal says ruffling Henry's hair, "I love the idea and I'd like to see all these pictures with her anyway."

"You guys never got to see me grow up, but I thought at least this way you get to see pictures of me over the past ten years. My mom took a _lot_ of pictures." Henry says sheepishly.

"Does she know you took these?" Neal asks worriedly as he runs his fingers over Henry's name on the book. There is no need for Regina to be on their bad side _just_ when things were settled down.

"I made copies." Henry promises, "So can you help me? I want to put some pictures of the two of us."

"I'll get go through my camera and get them printed for you." Neal promises, "We can go through them together if you want."

"You choose your favourite ones." Henry says. He then looks up at his father thoughtfully, "Do _you_ know what you're getting Mom for her birthday?"

Neal frowns, the suggestive tone in his son's voice as well as the way the 11 year old eyes twinkle with mischief already has Neal wary, "I noticed those gloves of hers has been getting a little old, so I was thinking of getting her that in time for winter."

"_Gloves_? You want to get her _gloves_ for her birthday?" Henry asks in disbelief, getting on his knees as he looks at his father incredulously, "Dad, this is Mom's first birthday with me and her parents and you in ten _years_ and you're going to get her _gloves_?"

"I thought you found your Mom on her birthday last year?"

Neal bites his lip to hold back his laughter at the annoyed look Henry gives him, reminding him so much of Emma, "Okay, what do you have in mind?"

Neal realizes belatedly that he should not have asked his over imaginative son such an arbitrary question. But Henry grins in excitement even so much to bounce on the bed excitedly.

"Grandma wants to do a surprise birthday party for Mom. _You _can take her out for the day. You can take her to lunch and then to the beach, maybe even feed the swans? Oh you can have a picnic on the beach. Grandma says that very romantic, do you know Gramps proposed to her on a beach?"

"Okay, wow. Slow down." Neal says and looks at Henry sternly, "Buddy, you know your Mom and I aren't together right?"

"Do you love mom?" Henry counters back, with a question of his own.

Neal sighs as he rubs his forehead, "Of course I do, but…"

"Then this is the _perfect_ birthday gift." Henry says excitedly, "You can take her out on a date!"

"Henry…" Neal warns but sighs when Henry takes out, yet another book and opens it onto a blank page a pen in his hand.

"I can help you plan it, you can get Granny to make all of Mom's favourite foods. Well not _all_ we want Mom to have room for her birthday cake."

Neal can't help but laugh at that comment, "Your Mom sure does love her food."

"I know." Henry says with a giggle as he starts writing in his book, "I can get the picnic basket and blanket from Grandma. Don't forget the wine."

Neal nods, not having the heart to talk Henry out of this, he can just explain to Emma it was Henry's idea, he's pretty sure it's the only way he will be able to convince Emma to spend the entire day with him in the first place.

* * *

"Why?" Emma asks for the millionth time, her arms folded over her chest as she refuses to move from behind her desk.

Neal groans, mentally reminding himself not hit his head against the door in frustration, as it will only hurt him in the long run, "Don't you trust me?"

"With my life? Sure. But when you tell me 'let's go somewhere' I get weary." Emma says truthfully, "Last time you told me that we ended up with Henry."

"Still in the room." David calls out from the front desk, his voice slightly strained in discomfort.

Neal groans again sending Emma a look who just grins in response, all to aware of how nervous David makes Neal, "I apologized for Tallahassee. I thought we worked past…"

"Oh I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about when we went to that clearing to see the stars." She lowers her voice at the last part, this time mindful of her father, who she has no doubt is probably still listening.

"Oh." Neal smirks at that particular memory, but groans when a crumpled piece of paper hits him in the head, "Hey! Look, stop stalling and let's go."

"You still haven't told me _where_ we are going." Emma points out, "You're notorious with your track record and my birthdays, Cassidy."

"We only celebrated your birthday _once_." Neal points out, clearly seeing past Emma's façade.

"Emma, let the boy take you to lunch." David says, joining the conversation as he spins his chair around, "Take the rest of the day off, have _fun_."

At his words, Emma narrows her eyes suspiciously at his suggestion, her father only_ tolerates _Neal on the best of times. When she looks at Neal who simply shrugs in response, her suspicions heighten, "Did my mother put the two of you up to this?"

Neal for his part looks away, but she can see him hiding a smile, David on the other hand just tries to not look guilty, but her father is an open book.

"_David_." Emma whines, scarily resembling a petulant child, "I told her no surprises! The ridiculous gourmet breakfast this morning was more than enough."

David grins at her sheepishly, " Just humor her?"

Emma shoulders sag at his plea, they both understand the significance of Emma's birthday and Emma knows her mother is over compensating, but not even Emma has the heart to ask her to stop. If Emma's honest with herself, she's enjoying her mother's overly exuberant need to go all out for Emma's birthday, even if it embarrasses Emma to no end, and Henry seems to be just as excited as his grandmother which is also amusing.

"Alright." She looks at Neal in amusement, "You're not taking me outside of Storybrooke, right?"

"No one is leaving Storybrooke." David says firmly.

Neal laughs, but then freezes when he sees the warning look David gives him. He looks across at Emma who his trying to hide her amused expression, figures Emma would be more amused than annoyed by David's attitude towards Neal. Neal nods in responds, pointedly ignoring the smirk on Emma's face, "5:30 right?"

David gives him a curt nod, then his entire demeanor softens when he turns to Emma, "Act surprised, if she knows I told you, she will have my head."

Emma laughs nodding in agreement, "I'll try. You're sure its okay to leave this early?"

David rolls his eyes, "I told you to take the day off,"

"You heard the man. Let's go Ems." Neal says quickly ushering Emma out of the room, barely allowing Emma to wave goodbye to her father.

"Are you afraid of my father?" Emma asks in amusement, when Neal only grunts in respond Emma laughs wholeheartedly at Neal's expense, "You're over 300 years old and have been to many different realms and you're afraid of _David_?"

"I'm not afraid of your father." Neal protests as he grabs a basket he had by the door, "I respect him and…"

"Oh you're _so_ afraid of him." Emma teases, "It's _David_. Why would you even be afraid of him, we aren't even dating?"

"I'm not afraid…" Neal trails off nudging Emma in the side as she laughs at him yet again "Shut up. Dude has a _sword_."

* * *

"The beach in the middle of fall?" Emma asks incredulously as she bundles up her scarf around her neck, "I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't think you thought this through."

Neal frowns as he watches the sand blowing in the distance, "The weather was suppose to be sunny and relatively warm for the end of October. I brought blankets and hot cocoa a la Snow White. According to Henry they are magically."

Emma laughs at his words, growling when the wind blows her hair across her face and she has to pull it back "Blankets and hot cocoa? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were propositioning me."

"Is that all it would take? Are you getting easy in your old age Ems?" Neal quips back and Emma can't tell if his red cheeks are because he's embarrassed or because of the chilly wind hitting his face.

Neal laughs at the glare she sends him as he starts making his way back to the trail, "Hey I'm not the one who's _centuries _old!"

"Low blow Ems." Neal says, he looks around at the sand swirling at their feet and sighs, "C'mon."

"I thought this was our destination?" Emma asks in confusion, "We can probably find a tree to go under or something."

"No, I have a different idea." Neal says eyeing Emma's yellow bug that is a few feet away.

"Which is what exactly? Your first surprise didn't work out so well for you." Emma points out as she trails behind him, "Maybe I should know _before_ hand so we don't spend the next few hours looking for somewhere to have lunch."

"Trust me."

Emma huffs at his words, "You know, you can't just throw those words at me and expect me to just stop asking questions."

"Wouldn't dream of it." Neal says in amusement, knowing his lack of response to her initial question would only frustrate her more.

Sure enough Emma asks him yet again where they are going but Neal laughs again in response knowing she will follow him, sure enough Emma frustrated growl can be heard as she stomps behind him, "Where are we going?"

"I'm going back to the car, I don't know about you." Neal calls back teasingly.

"You brought me all the way out here to just _look_ at the ocean?" Emma complains, "I told you we should have never even ventured to the beach."

"I'm improvising. Go with it." Neal calls over his shoulder, shivering as a chilly wind hits his face, he opens the back door for Emma and slips in after her

Emma grabs the blanket on the top of the basket wrapping it around her shoulders, "The heat in this car always did suck."

Neal smiles as he shifts, placing the basket at their feet so that he can share some of the blanket with Emma, " I seem to remember we thought up a lot of ways to get our own heat."

" ' To get our own heat?' " Emma repeats with a laugh, "Wow Cassidy you're really loosing your touch."

"Yet, I'm sharing a blanket with you in the back seat of the bug." Neal points out smugly, he holds out a thermos for Emma.

"Whatever." Emma grumbles knowing he makes a point , she elbows him in the side playfully as she eyes the basket, "Am I allowed to ask what food you brought?"

Neal laughs as he picks up the basket resting it on their laps, "Bon apetite a la Granny's"

"Your French still sucks." Emma remarks as she starts digging through the basket, thrusting her thermos into Neal's hand.

Neal watches on in amusement as she takes out each item moaning in approval, "Cheese burgers, chips and _ranch_ dip, gummy bears and _oyster _flavoured cream cheese? Neal do you have a new love for seafood suddenly?"

Neal frowns as he places the thermoses in the basket and takes the container from Emma, "I didn't even know such a thing existed. I didn't put this in here."

"Then who did?" Emma asks in confusion, she then frowns when she pulls out two plastic wine glasses and a small bottle of apple juice.

"Henry." Neal says with a groan taking one of the plastic cups and spinning it between his fingers. He knows he should have never let the kid pack the basket on his own.

"This was_ Henry's_ idea?" Emma asks in disbelief. She then looks at the apple juice, "I don't get the apple juice."

"He's _eleven, _luckily for us felony is not in his future as well." Neal murmurs shaking her head.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Emma responds thinking how Henry found her in the first place, "We're being set up by our eleven year old. Judging by the wine and _oysters. _ How does even _know _these things?"

"Is it such a bad thing?" Neal ventures cautiously, pointedly ignoring her rant about Henry's knowledge of aphrodisiacs it freaks Neal out too much to think about to begin with.

This is not how he wanted to approach the subject with Emma, but given that their son gave them the perfect opening (using Henry to soften Emma up, is also a bonus). Neal just goes for it.

"Neal, we talked about this." Emma says shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Neal can see her walls slowly going up, but he'll be damned if he lets that happen again.

"Actually, we didn't." Neal points out, "We talked about us what happened before, with August and the watches. We talked about Henry, my father, your parents, me moving to Storybrooke, but we never talked about us _now_."

"Neal." Emma groans, "I don't think this is a good idea, we have Henry to think about…"

"Exactly!" Neal points out, sitting up to face her and taking her hand in his, "We _do _and we should at least consider it for his sake. C'mon Ems we were great together, the only reason things didn't work out, was because…."

"You trusted that _Pinocchio _knew what was best for _my_ life?" Emma snaps back, "You trusted a complete stranger, over me. You didn't think just _telling_ me would have been better? We could have done it together _with_ Henry."

"I thought you would have been better off without me." Neal says honestly, "But Emma you have to know, if I had known about Henry… I would have _never _left. I shouldn't have left you in the first place."

"I know." Emma says softly.

She throws her head back against the seat of the car, tugging the blanket to her chin. She didn't think that Neal would come straight out with this asking her point blank. She assumed this was a date and things would have just slowly and easily slid into place, much like how they got together the first time. She never expected Neal to come right out and ask her about them. She expected them to flirt; just have fun and things would just fall into place like it did last time. Then again, they aren't exactly kids anymore, but Emma has never been one to talk about her feelings outright.

"Do you not want this?" Neal asks quietly, the vulnerability evident in his tone.

"Oh I do!" Emma says quickly, not wanting him to think otherwise. She turns her head to look at him shyly, "If this doesn't work out, we have Henry to consider and…"

"Who says this won't work out?" Neal says quickly. He tugs Emma's hand pulling her to his side his arm looping around her shoulders, "We can't go into this thinking the worst case scenario. That's not right and its not fair to us either, or to Henry."

Emma nods knowing the truth in his words burying her face in his shoulders, sighing when his fingers run through her hair, "I'm scared."

"You don't think I'm terrified I'll mess this up as well?" Neal asks softly as he places a kiss on the top of her head before she pulls back to look at him, "I love you Ems, always have and always will, but that doesn't mean I don't think something could go round and I don't want to lose either you or Henry. But, you know something sometimes you just got a take a leap of fate."

"Well, I do have to say, you still have a way with words Cassidy." Emma jokes, trying to ease the tension that has built up.

But as Neal's hopeful expression, reminding Emma so much of their son, all humor leaves her and she looks at him warmly, she barely has time to answer his silent question before she finds herself in his lap and his lips on hers. Emma moans in approvable, their bodies molding into one another, she welcomes his tongue that slips between her lips. Her hand goes to the back of his head , but she frowns when there is not enough hair and the base of his neck for her to tug on lightly.

"Your hair is too short." Emma mutters between kisses, only pulling her lips away from his long enough to tell him that.

Neal's laughter echoes through the tiny bug as he sarcastically tells her, he'll add that on his list of things to do. He tugs her face back down for another kiss, successfully distracting her before she retort.

* * *

"Just remember to act surprised." Neal warns Emma just as he pushes the front door open.

The small group of people gathered in the loft all freeze at the sight of the two of them, Grumpy who is holding a beer mug in his hand recovers first and raises his mug in greeting and halfheartedly yells, "Surprise!"

Emma eyes her mother who is making a beeline for them a scowl on her face, "Did you forget something Neal?"

"Neal! You were suppose to call me when you were on your way!" Snow admonishes

"I was otherwise preoccupied." Neal grunts off softly so that only Emma hears. He then smiles warmly at Snow as she walks up to them, "Your majesty, David told me to arrive at 5:30."

"Your _majesty_?" Emma snorts, "It hasn't even been 15 minutes and already you're sucking up to my mother?"

"Fifteen minutes since what?" Snow asks curiously, her eyebrows shooting up when Emma and Neal exchange guilty expressions

"How was it?" Henry asks excitedly as he bounds up to his parents, his innocent question making his parents blush, something that goes over the 11 year olds head, but Snow is watching her daughter and Neal very closely, "Did you enjoy the beach Mom? It was my idea!"

"Aw kid, I wish, but it was too cold and windy." Emma admits, frowning at Henry's crestfallen expression, "But we had lunch in the bug though."

Henry's face lights up at his mothers words, "Just like you use too! Did you have fun?"

At his question both his parents exchange less than subtle looks, this time Henry does pick up on it, "What?"

"Nothing buddy, I'll explain it to you when you get older." Neal says clapping Henry's back, "Now, where is that card you want me to sign?"

"Dad! That was supposed to be a surprise!" Henry whines. He looks across at Emma, "You didn't hear that."

Emma grins at him in amusement, "Hear what?"

"What I just said about the…._oh_!" Henry's eyes light up in merit finally catching on to his mother's joke. He takes his father hand tugging him towards the stairs "I'll be back with your gift Mom! You have to open it first."

"I promise!" Emma calls after him shaking her head as she head to the coat rack to take off her outerwear, "So, I'm guessing the sweater was a decoy gift this morning?"

Snow looks at her daughter through narrowed eyes pointedly ignoring Emma's poor attempt at avoiding Snow's inquiry gaze, "So, we're ignoring the elephant in the room?"

"Dumbo is real, too?" Emma quips, avoiding her mother's question.

Snow simply rolls her eyes as she tugs the collar of Emma's shirt closer to her neck, patting it lightly, "Next time you and Neal decide to have a romp in your car, remind him to be a little less conspicuous."

"_Mom_!" Emma says horrified her hand going to her neck, her entire face turning red.

The name slips out in Emma's frazzled state, she only recently called her parents by their give name, but as of yet it hasn't become a habit and in true Emma fashion has been used in sarcasm than anything else. Snow looks at her daughter in amusement as Emma tugs her hair out of its ponytail and fluff it in front of her neck.

"Relax, your shirt collar was doing its job." Snow says batting her daughter's hand away and smoothing down some fray curls, ignoring the annoyed look Emma gives her, "Was this a one time thing, hence the secrecy?"

"Did you just ask me if I had a one night stand?" Emma asks with a groan, "I'm too sober for this conversation."

"Stop avoiding, Emma." Snow admonishes.

"We're…seeing where things are going." Emma offers uncomfortable. Emma shoulders slump slightly, "This was so much easier when you were _just _Mary Margaret."

Emma suddenly looks horrified at her words about to explain but Snow pats her Emma's arm in comfort smiling warmly showing she understands what Emma meant, "I'm sure Mary Margaret would have gotten all the juicy details."

"Oh yea." Emma says absentmindedly as she smiles thinking about the last hour.

"Emma." Snow says with groan, "You don't want to tell me, anymore than I want to hear."

"Right." Emma says with a sheepishly grin as they make their way into the house to mingle with the dwarfs, Granny, Ruby and Archie. "Just don't tell David."

Snow chuckles at the request, "Emma, I _want_ Henry to grow up with a father."

"What? _Mom_, not _that_. I'm talking about Neal and I being together again." Emma groans yet again, "I was not talking about what happened in the bug. I thought that was understood, _no one_ needs to know about that, least of all David."

"Is there a reason, you don't want your father to know?" Snow asks curiously. "He's not giving Neal a hard time is he?"

"Oh of course he is." Emma says with a laugh, "But, that's fine. Things with Neal are still new and we're kind of testing out the waters first, before we tell people, especially Henry."

Snow nods in understanding as various people greet Emma with birthday wishes, "And you're sure you're okay with your father giving Neal a hard time?"

"It hasn't gotten out of hand yet." Emma says with a shrug. She smiles shyly at her mother, "It's kind of nice, actually. Just don't tell him _that_. No need for him to scare Neal completely."

"Do you know, in our land before a man can court a woman, he must _always_ ask the girl's father's permission?" Snow says thoughtfully, grinning at Emma's horrified expression.

"_Court_? Really you people use those words?" Emma asks with distain. She then groans, "He would have them battle some kind of animal to show their worth or something equally ridiculous, right?"

Snow chuckles at the mental image, "Probably worse."

Emma just shakes her head about to retort, when Henry comes running towards her at full speed a neatly wrapped box in his hand, "Presents!"

"Henry, we haven't even cut the cake yet." David points out as he walks over to his family.

"It's okay, Henry looks like he's just about ready to burst." Emma says in amusement.

"Actually, your Gramps is right. Why don't we cut the cake, then Emma can open the gifts from everyone else and she can save yours for last." Snow offers

Snow knows her daughter and what is in that box is going to take her by surprise and Emma wouldn't want everyone to witness that. Snow looks at Neal pointedly, who quickly catches on and squeezes Henry's shoulder, "Buddy, cake _always_ comes before presents. Besides, she still has to get my gift, before yours."

Henry suddenly grins at his mother, "I helped him with _half_ of the gift. The cool half."

Emma grins at that remark, sending Neal a smirk, "I don't know kid, your Dad is pretty creative with his gift ideas."

"Trust me Mom. Dad needed all the help he can get, and he _still_ got something lame."

"Hey!" Neal protests as everyone laughs at his expense.

Henry just sticks his tongue out at his Dad and slips behind his grandfather before Neal can ruffle his hair, "C'mon Mom you gotta cut your cake, so you can open presents! Grandma and I made your favourite, red velvet. You can cut the cake with Dad."

Emma shakes her head at her son's less than subtle hint, grinning at Neal, "Think you're up for the task, Cassidy?"

"Ems, don't you know by now I'm up for _any_ task?" Neal flirts right back at her, sending her a wink.

"Okay! Let's move to the table." Snow calls out loudly, eyeing her husband who is currently glaring at Neal. The rest of the adults are just chuckling in amusement as Henry grins up at his parents, enjoying their banter even if he doesn't get the joke.

"Please tell me you aren't going to put all the candles on this thing." Emma protest to her mother eyeing the beautifully decorated cake that has 'Happy Birthday Emma!' written across it.

"Nope, even better." Henry says with a grin as he pulls out a bright pink candle that is in the shape of a tiara with the word 'Princess' decorated across it. Henry giggles at his mother's horrified expression as he places it on the cake.

"_Seriously_?" Emma asks in disbelief glaring at her mother.

"Hey, don't look at me. That was all Leroy. He was in charge of candles." Snow says but her grin shows that she approves wholeheartedly at the dwarf's joke as David lights the candle

"Happy Birthday _Princess_." Grumpy says with a smirk.

"Thank you. You really _shouldn't_ have." Emma says dryly, sighing when her mother gestures for her to stand in front of the cake, pulling out her camera.

"You want to _document_ this evidence as well?" Emma whines, but she holds a fork in her hand and smiles at the camera nonetheless, "You people are lucky I like you."

"You like it admit it." Neal teases as he nudges Emma in the shoulder. He picks up a knife, "Now feed me woman."

"Shut up Neal." Emma grumbles as she turns to her mother yet again and smiles as Snow snaps another picture.

"You have to blow out the candle first!" Henry protests, on seeing his mother about the cut the cake, wrestling the knife from Neal.

"Oh right." Emma says sheepishly as Henry chimes in to not forget to make a wish

She looks around the room at all the people in her life, her parents who are grinning at her in anticipation, her son who is eagerly holding a fork in his hand no doubt waiting for a slice of cake of his own, all her parent's friends who would do just about anything for her and finally Neal who is grinning at her in anticipation. She closes her eyes and realizes in that moment there is nothing left for her to wish for. She blows out the candle laughing when everyone cheers. She smiles warmly at her mother who tries not so subtle to hide her tears. This moment means as much to her mother as it does to Emma.

"A guy can starve waiting on you." Neal calls out bringing Emma out of her thoughts.

"Watch it, I'm only sharing my cake with you cause I needed someone to cut the cake with." Emma teases as she takes a small slice of cake and feeds it to Neal, both of them laughing when she purposely misses and the cake ends up all on his nose.

"Emma!" Snow admonishes but is laughing just as well as she takes pictures.

Emma laughs as she swipes the icing off of Neal's nose popping her finger into her mouth, "Don't rush a princess, Cassidy."

"But the end product is so much more _satisfying_." Neal whispers suggestively, so only Emma can hear. She looks at him scandalized, that he would say that in front of _everyone_. Neal then leans in and kisses her on the lips, Henry's excited squeal is the only thing that brings them out of their trance.

"Happy Birthday Ems." Neal whispers affectionately.

"I knew it!" Henry said excitedly, he looks at his father smugly, "I told you the picnic would work! Okay, Dad you have to give Mom a piece of cake now."

Emma laughs, but shakes her head, "Nope, I want my favourite boy to give me a piece of cake."

"Oh, can I get too?" Henry asks excitedly, already pushing his way through the small crowd and nudging his father aside, earning laughter from the adults as he grabs a fork eagerly.

"Of course." Emma says with a laugh, bending over a bit so Henry can feed her the slice of cake.

"My turn!" Henry says excitedly, eagerly waiting for his own piece of cake.

"Hey, where's my kiss?" Emma asks, laughing when Henry rolls his eyes but places a small kiss on Emma's cheek, his own cheeks red in embarrassment.

"I think he's too old for that." Neal whispers in Emma's ear.

"Tough for him then." Emma says with a grin as she feeds Henry a piece of cake and then proceeds to plaster when kisses all over her sons face, much to his horror.

"Mom!" Henry whines as he finally slips away wiping his face in his sleeve, "Gross!"

Before Snow can move to help Emma cut up the cake for everyone, Emma surprises them when she turns to David who is standing next to Snow and smiles at him shyly, "Am I too old to cut the cake with my Dad?"

"Never." David says his voice still full of awe as he quickly makes he way to the other side of the table.

Emma grins as she leans into her father and smiles at her mother so she can take their picture. She then takes a step back and waits for her slice of cake, David gently offers her the cake and then places a kiss on her forehead, before he pulls her into a hug, "Happy Birthday, princess."

Emma's heart tugs at his words as she wraps her arms around him squeezing him slightly, "Thanks, Dad."

They both pull back and smile for another pictures, but Emma chuckles when she sees Ruby is now holding the camera and her mother is wiping her eyes. She gestures to her mother, " Family picture."

Snow quickly wipes her eyes and hurriedly moves to the other side of the table, slipping in on Emma's right side. Her heart warming when she feels David slip his fingers between hers and squeezes in in comfort as they take a picture with their daughter.

"Okay, I want to take a picture with my Mom and Dad!" Henry chimes in having already helped himself to a slice of cake.

"Henry, don't talk with your mouth full." Both Emma and Snow admonished, causing everyone to laugh in amusement.

* * *

"I think he might be out for the count." Emma says in amusement as looks at down at Henry who is lying across the sofa , snoring softly.

"Oh no." Snow says, "We made him wait so long to give you his gift."

"Wake him up." Neal calls out as he hefts two garbage bags over his shoulder and makes his way towards the door, "Poor kid spent way too much time making that gift to have her open it without him."

"I can just open it tomorrow." Emma points out.

"You still have your gift from us and Neal to open as well." David points out as he wipes his hands try in a dishcloth before hanging it back up.

Emma bites her lip in contemplation and looks across at Neal questioningly, who just nods, "He'll be more upset if you don't wake him up."

"True."

Emma rubs Henry's shoulder gently as she softly coaxes him awake," Henry, do you want to wake up so that I can open my gifts?"

She rolls her eyes at the affectionate grin her mother sends her just as Henry sits up abruptly, wiping his eyes, "Did you open them without me? Where's Dad?"

"Breathe kid, he went to put out the garbage and the gifts are right there." Emma says gesturing to the three neatly wrapped boxes.

"Okay, you have to open Dad's first, then Grandma and Gramps _then_ mine." Henry says handing the biggest box to Emma.

Emma shakes the box curiously, frowning when nothing rattles, "So I guess it's not something that can break?"

Henry giggles just as the front door opens, "Dad, she's trying to guess what you got her."

"Once its nothing alive." Emma comments dryly, sending Neal a playful smirk as she reads the small card on the top of the box.

She chuckles when she sees Henry's name squeezed in the card in his messy writing, no doubt her son took it upon himself to stick his name on the gift as well.

"I was thinking of a baby dragon, but those things seem to be hard to get in this world." Neal teases.

Henry's eyes widen at his father's words and his head whips around to his grandparents, "People have pet _dragons_?"

"I don't know what _time_ your father is from, but growing up the only pets I had were horses." Snow says in amusement.

"It doesn't matter, if such things exist, you were _never_ getting one of those." Emma says sternly, sending Neal an annoyed look, their son's imagination was way too wild for Neal to be putting those ideas in his head.

"Alright, lets get this over with." Emma says, trying to appear nonchalant, but she can't hide her excited smile as she tears open her gift, when she opens the box she can't help but gasp at the dark red leather jacket nestled in the box, "Neal."

"This was my idea! You mentioned how your other jacket tore in the enchanted forest and still smells like Orge snot. I told Dad you needed a new one." Henry says excitedly, sending his father a grin, as Emma raises the jacket to her nose and then slips it on.

"I love it." Emma says with a smile, she's about to close the lid on the box when Henry stops her.

"There is more, this was dad's idea, not mine."

The adults laugh wholeheartedly at his comment, Neal looks at Emma sheepishly and slightly nervous as Emma removes the tissue paper to reveal two dark red gloves in the same material as the jacket, before she can pick it up, Neal calls out to her.

"Careful, there is something in the one of the gloves." Neal calls out cautiously.

Emma picks up the glove pressing down on the centre of the glove frowning when she feels something round, "Neal, tell me this isn't a ring, because I swear to God…"

"Neal, wouldn't be that stupid to _not_ ask your mother and I permission first."

"You _just_ got back together _today."_

_"_Mom, say yes!"

Three voices say simultaneously, Emma sends a glare at her father, just as Neal chimes with hands up in defense, "It's not a ring! You've seen it before, it's sort of a token that I'm giving back to you."

"Oh," Emma says softly knowing exactly what Neal is referring too, "You kept it?"

"Of course." Neal says softly, "You don't fool me Emma Swan. That yellow bug sitting on the street, speaks for itself."

"Yea, yea." Emma grumbles her cheeks reddening, both of them knowing how sentimental she truly is. She turns the glove upside down and smiles affectionately when the familiar swan necklace falls into her palm, a little shiner than the last time she saw it, a new chain looped through the small hoop.

"That's where your necklace went!" Henry says, "I didn't know Dad gave that to you."

"That, is a story for another time, buddy." Neal says before Henry can ask the story behind Emma's swan necklace. He takes the necklace from Emma's palm and slips it over her neck.

Emma rubs the necklace resting just below her other necklace and smiles, she looks up at Neal affectionately, momentarily forgetting her parents and their son in the room as she grabs his scarf and tugging him down for a kiss, "Thank you."

"Next gift!" Henry says excitedly as he takes the box, he's about to shake it, but his grandfather grabs both his hands stopping him before he can, "I don't know what this is, grandma won't tell me."

"This one _can_ break." David warns. He then gently tugs the box of his confused grandson's hands and places it in his wife's hands, "You should give it to her."

Emma watches curiously, and somewhat concerned at her parents somber expressions. She bites her tongue from making a comment to ease the tension, realizing the seriousness of the gift when her mother takes a deep breath and hands it to her.

"Open it, then I'll explain." Snow promises.

"Well now I'm nervous." Emma says partially joking, partially truthful.

She looks down at the tag and smiles warmly at the note. Her birthday card she had gotten from them earlier in the morning much more worded than the small message her mother left her simply wishing her happy birthday. Emma gently tears the bright colored paper off, figuring this is not the type of gift she would want to tear open. When she sees a plain white box staring up at her. She gently lifts the lid and her eyes widen, lying in the box is a tiara, the diamonds glittering from the light. Emma gently raises out of the box, her fingers tracing the intricate detail of the pattern the diamonds are in and she knows for a fact that every one of them are _real_ diamonds.

"This was my mother's " Snow says softly, "It was handed down to her from her mother. It's a standing tradition in our family as a coming of age heirloom, passed down from generation to generation. A way to present the new princess to the kingdom. You were suppose to get this on your 13th birthday. I know there is no ball in your honor and we're 16 years late…"

"Better late than never." Emma says softly, but her joke falls flat because her voice cracks a bit, filled with emotion. She looks at her mother and smiles warmly, "Thank you."

Snow smiles shyly at Emma, "I don't expect you wear it obviously, but can I…."

Emma eyes widen at the unspoken request, she glances at her father who nods and Emma knows this is more for her mother than anything, "Sure, do I need to fix my hair?"

"No, its perfect just like that." Snow promises, her voice still soft as she gently takes the tiara from Emma, leaning forward a bit, "Now it's heavier than it looks."

At Emma's skeptical but nervous expression Snow laughs as she gently eases the tiara into place smiling widely, even more so at Emma's totally out of place expression.

"You're a princess!" Henry says in delight.

"Is that thing weighing down your cheeks?" Neal teases, knowing the very thing to bring Emma out of her nerves, "You can smile better than that."

Emma scowls at Neal and to everyone surprise David laughs wholeheartedly, "Now _that_ is the expression I expected to see on a 13 year old Emma's face when you would have gotten it."

Snow giggles at that, "Oh you would have fought tooth and nails against this, I just know it."

Emma grins sheepishly, "You never know, I may have been the perfect princess."

This time Henry is the one to bark out in laughter, "Yea right Mom. Okay my gift now!"

Emma doesn't even have time to comment his remark before switches the gifts so now his gift lies on her lap. Emma's eyes widen at the weight, "What is this kid? It's almost heavier than your book."

"It's even better." Henry says proudly as he tugs his father into the seat so Henry is now sitting between his parents on the couch.

"Something better than your book? I didn't think there would…." Emma trails off when she removes the tissue paper to show a large leather bound book with Henry's name and birthday written in the front in neat cursive.

"Henry…"

Emma starts again but then gasps when she opens the book to see a 3 month old baby with dark brown hair, leaning against a pillow smiling back at her, his bright brown eyes staring up at her. This time she can't stop her eyes from filling up with tears even if she wanted too, she traces her finger along the lines of Henry's plump little cheek, holding back a sob when she feels Neal's hand squeezing her side in comfort. She has no doubt that Neal is thinking the same thing. On the bottom of the picture there is a little caption explaining the picture in Henry's messy handwriting. On the other side there are clipping of drawings and various little trinkets each with its own caption explaining their meaning.

"You don't like it?" Henry asks crestfallen.

"No…no it's beautiful." Emma reassures him wiping her eyes, as Neal flips the page to show another picture of Henry this time he's a little older and sitting up on his own giving a toothy grin at the camera, only two of his front teeth are present.

"It's a time line." Henry explains unnecessarily as he flips through the pictures. Emma leans back and lets him easy the book into his lap, she knows she'll spend hours pouring over it later anyway, "I tried to get one for every year and there is even one of me and Grandma from school. I was five then, and then it goes all the way to when you moved here and it has pictures of all of us."

He then flips to the very end of the book that has blank page, "I wanna put the picture we took with your cake here."

"I'd like that." Emma says, already flipping back to look at earlier pictures. She's about to ask Henry the story behind one of the pictures when she sees him yawn widely and changes her mind, "Okay, I think it's time for bed."

"But Mom, you _just_ opened it." Henry whines.

"Yes, but you can tell me the stories for each one tomorrow, for now your Dad and I will just go through the pictures okay?" Emma says with finality, she then tugs Henry into her arms kissing his cheek, "I love my gift more than you can imagine."

"Grandma helped me make it and she gave me the idea." Henry says brightly before he slips out of her arms

"I had a lot of fun making it." Snow says warmly as she slides into the seat David is sitting in.

Emma smiles at her mother, making a mental note to try and maybe do the same for her parents. She may not have all the happy memories like Henry did, or even the majority of her life documented, but she knows that she has enough that will please her parents.

"Dad are you going now?" Henry asks pouting slightly.

"Not yet, I wanna go through the book with your Mom." Neal says, "Go on and brush your teeth, I'll come tuck you in."

Henry nods bidding his grandparents goodnight before he heads to the bathroom. Snow looks at Emma closely as she runs her finger along the seam of the book.

"Emma, are you okay?"

"Yea, just… I wasn't expecting this." Emma says looking at the book, "I only saw him for 5 seconds and then the next time he was half my height, talking and to see this…"

"He literally grew up in the blink of an eye." David says knowingly.

"Yea." Emma says, sighing when Neal squeezes her hand in reassurance.

"We'll leave you two that then." Snow says knowingly, placing a kiss on Emma's forehead before they head to their room, "Just remember to put away the tiara, Emma."

"Oh right." Emma says with a laugh, as she gently tugs it off her hair, or least tries to and frowns when her hair gets tangled in it, "Damn it."

"Ever the princes." David teases as he eases Emma's hair out of the comb of the tiara and then hands it back to her, "Good night Em."

" 'Night." Emma says softly as he walks off.

She places the tiara back in the box and then looks at Neal who is now looking at the first picture, "For the first time in my life, I didn't need to make a wish on candle on my birthday."

"You finally have all you wanted?" Neal asked knowingly.

"I have more."


End file.
